News articles on lax charter school regulation, problems

Page created June 2010; last updated Nov 23, 2012by C.A.S.I.L.I.P.S. - Citizens Against Special Interest Lobbying in Public Schools

Extremely loose oversight of charter schools has created an opportunity space for the Gulen Movement to expand its educational network into the US. The Charter School Scandals website provides a very comprehensive collection of newspaper articles on the consequences of lax charter regulation. Abuses have occurred in schools outside the Gulen network as well.

Nov 20, 2012 The New Republic, Timothy NoahHow Charter Schools Fleece Taxpayers"In government, if I help myself to taxpayer dollars, we call that
embezzlement and I go to jail. In the private sector, if I help myself to
taxpayer dollars, we call that innovation and I get hailed as a visionary
exponent of public-private partnership. That’s the lesson of a Nov.
17 investigation by Anne Ryman of the Arizona Republic into the
state’s charter schools."

Nov 17, 2012 Arizona Republic, Anne RymanInsiders benefiting in charter deals: Board members, school officials did more than $70 million in busines.
"Board members and administrators from more than a dozen state-funded charter
schools are profiting from their affiliations by doing business with schools
they oversee. The deals, worth more than $70 million over the
last five years, are legal, but critics of the arrangements say they can lead
to conflicts of interest."Two additional articles in this series:

Oct 25, 2012 Associated PressAudit: US oversight of charter school funds lax"An audit of the U.S. Department of Education's division overseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in charter school funding has criticized the office for failing to properly monitor how states spend the money."The report released in late September by the department's Office of the Inspector General also singled out state education departments in California, Florida and Arizona for lax monitoring of what charter schools do with the funds and whether their expenditures comply with federal regulations.""In Florida, state officials had no records of which schools received federal grant money nor which schools received on-site monitoring and audits. Florida received $67.6 million."

Oct 25, 2012 Deseret News, Gretchen KrebsAt charter schools, high enrollment, low oversight bring mixed results
"Across the
country, communities continue to put energy and dollars into charter schools,
despite the lack of both oversight and convincing results....Enrollment in California charters is at its highest this year, despite the fact that studies show charters in general have not significantly outperformed public or private schools."

Oct 24, 2012 Orlando Sentinel, Lauren Roth$500,000 payout to charter principal sparks outrage, call for probe"The principal of a failed Orange County charter school took home a check for more than $500,000 as the school closed down in June and is still being paid thousands of dollars a month to wrap up the school's affairs. The check for $519,453.36 in taxpayer money was cut to Kelly Young, principal of NorthStar High School, two days after the Orange County School Board accepted the school's plan to close in lieu of being shut down for poor performance. ... Young's salary was more than 2 1/2 times that of the highest-paid principal
at a traditional Orange County public school in 2011: $116,565."

Feb 13, 2012 Chicago CatalystCharter discipline policy under fire by Rebecca Harris"The civil rights advocacy group Advancement Project is considering a legal challenge to the discipline policy of Noble Street Charter School campuses, which charge students $5 each time they are issued a detention."

Dec 12, 2011 Los Angeles Times , Los Angeles CA 2 charter schools allowed some families to bypass lotteries by Howard Blume"Two popular Los Angeles charter schools have allowed some families to bypass a lottery for admission in exchange for providing special services or a substantial volunteer commitment. ..... Under state law, independently run charter schools are open equally to students without regard to family resources. Lotteries are held when applications exceed classroom space."

Dec 10, 2011 Miami Herald, Miami FLFlorida charter schools: big money, little oversight by Scott Hiaasen & Kathleen McGrory"But while charter schools have grown into a $400-million-a-year business in South Florida, receiving about $6,000 in taxpayer dollars for every student enrolled, they continue to operate with little public oversight. Even when charter schools have been caught violatingstate laws, school districts have few tools to demand compliance."

Oct 25, 2011 Miami Herald, Miami FLTwo Miami-Dade charter schools lose funding: Miami-Dade school district officials say one school is not serving its special-needs students, and the other faces questions about its finances.

June 20, 2011 Cleveland Plain DealerHouse-Senate budget committee faces major questions on charter schools by Aaron Marshall "The amendments -- which would allow for-profit operators to run schools without supervision and operators with terrible track records to open new schools -- were roundly condemned, even by advocates within the charter schools movement."

June 12, 2011 The News Journal, Wilmington DE Delaware schools: Checkered past goes unchecked: Multiple bankruptcies, child abuse conviction all part of charter school founder's record by Nichole Dobo"The state Department of Education allowed Anthony White to open Delaware's first all-girls charter school in Claymont in 2010, even though he is a convicted child abuser, has declared bankruptcy at least eight times and has several aliases known to law enforcement."

May 27, 2011 Columbus Dispatch, Columbus OHBill could scuttle lawsuit against charter-school operator: House provisions favor major GOP donor "...would allow the for-profit company to keep secret how it spends tax dollars it receives to operate charter schools" "The lawmakers also agreed: to ban the state from suspending or putting on probation charter schools with poor student performance, fiscal mismanagement or a law violation..." The proposed loosening of restrictions on charter schools has even the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools concerned. It appears the major beneficiary would be White Hat Management Co, which has been a major donor to the state's Republican Party.

May 16, 2011 AP News; The Augusta ChronicleGa. court overturns charter schools law In this decision, Georgia's Supreme Court said the state government cannot authorize charter schools that local school districts have rejected.

May 12, 2011 Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne INIndianapolis district seeking transfer ban "The head of the cash-strapped Indianapolis Public Schools plans to prohibit students who start the school year in a charter school from transferring into the district’s schools after the school year begins."

May 11, 2011 North Jersey Media Group NJMillburn forum weighs charter schools impact "She [Montclair State University professor of educational leadership Katrina Bulkley] also said although charter schools cannot legally select their students, research has shown they have 'more leeway in formally or informally asking students to leave.'"

Feb 6, 2011 News Record, Raleigh NCCharter push goes beyond raising cap by Mark Binker "Charter schools could receive more public money but face fewer limitations than they do now under a bill the Senate Education Committee has rolled out."